A bill before the Maryland General Assembly would require cameras to be placed in dedicated special education classrooms throughout Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS). Delegate April Miller (R-Frederick) says her bill would give a voice to those students who cannot advocate for themselves.
Of FCPS’s 48,000 students, approximately 12% have special needs. FCPS introduced its own special education camera pilot program in January with the goal of expanding the school system’s safety net for students.
The bill would create state support, as well as expectations, for the program. The discussion surrounding cameras in FCPS classrooms goes back several years, with parents and teachers raising concerns for and against the idea.
Some parents have worried over the privacy of their students, not wanting them to be on camera, while others support the added accountability surveillance brings. Teachers have been concerned the cameras might be used to watch their performance in the classroom.
What Changed?
While FCPS does not comment on personnel matters or active investigations, Board of Education President Dean Rose acknowledged the inciting cause behind the pilot occurred in October of last year.
John McAleer, a former special education instructional assistant at Oakdale Middle School, was arrested after being accused of sexually abusing a student in September. Multiple other minor students who reported sexual abuse by McAleer were uncovered throughout the course of the investigation. He was taken into custody on October 6 after a prolonged confrontation with Frederick County SWAT in which he attempted to take his own life. McAleer was flown to a hospital for treatment and faces six charges.
The Bill
Delegate April Miller acknowledged her bill was not the first of its kind, yet what makes this bill unique is it only applies to Frederick County. “I was not sure if Delegate [Michele] Guyton was going to put her statewide bill in, so I decided to draft mine — with her encouragement — as a local bill,” Miller explained.
The bill requires FCPS to install a camera in each specialized instructional setting (SIS). An SIS is defined as any space where students with disabilities receive specialized services or care for at least 50% of the instructional day.
This includes FCPS’s Expressions and Learning for Life classrooms as well as any other environment designated for specialized disability support. Audio recording devices will also be required in restrooms, changing areas and places of physical care attached to restrooms.
Parents will have the option to opt their students out of using spaces where audio recording equipment is used, but not where video recording is implemented. Miller understands why parents would be concerned about recording devices in changing spaces but explains she does not want those to be safe places for abusers. “These are not streaming, they are not being live monitored,” Miller said. “They are simply incident based.”
Miller explained parts of the step-by-step process for how and when parents can request recordings will be developed by FCPS through the pilot program. While certain laws already define parts of the process, she clarified that unexplained markings on a child’s body or sudden changes in behavior may warrant access. “If that parent has any concern about anything that has happened to that child, then that could be considered an incident,” Miller said.
When access to video recordings are provided to parents, Miller said efforts will be taken to blur out or otherwise censor other non-related students in the footage.
The bill outlines that within seven days of an incident, the board of education may allow access to recordings for parents or legal guardians, law enforcement or representatives from child protective services.
To assuage concerns that cameras could be used to surveil teachers, Miller says her bill includes a form of two-factor viewing. This requires at least two sets of eyes any time a recording would be reviewed, which — as an example — would prevent individual principals from watching the tapes. “I’m hoping that we get to a process where [teachers] get more comfortable with who’s viewing it, how it's being viewed and the whole process,” Miller said.
The only exception would be if — during the review of a recording — a second unrelated incident were to be uncovered that required reporting.
Recordings will be kept for up to one year with an additional 60 days provided if access is requested. Alternatively, recordings must be kept until any legal or administrative proceedings are complete. Damage and deactivation of recording devices must also be promptly reported.
FCPS’s Pilot Program
FCPS’s pilot program currently spans three schools, with classrooms selected based on the location of programs serving the school system’s most vulnerable students. The program is planned to run from January 20 until the end of the current school year.
Board President Dean Rose has stated his support for the program, and that ‘should it bear fruit’ the board is likely to continue funding it. The school would implement a staggered approach to rolling out additional cameras. “I think being able to spread out the cost will be able to make it less painful to the budget,” Rose said. “I think we’re going to be able to absorb it when the time comes.”
Camera Pilot Classroom Locations
- Middletown Primary School – 4 Expressions classrooms
- Oakdale Middle School – 2 Learning for Life classrooms
- Catoctin High School – 1 Learning for Life classroom
Looking Ahead
If the bill passes, FCPS will have until 2029 to install the recording equipment in all SISs. By 2030, that will be extended to classrooms with students in the responsive interventions for student excellence (RISE) program and the pyramid program. The final deadline for installation is June 2031.
Jaime Shopland, chair of the Frederick County’s Special Education Citizen Advisory Committee has raised concerns that the pilot could lead to inequitable outcomes for different students. With only certain children protected by the program, she called for cameras in any classroom serving a student with special needs.
Shopland argues it's going to be a matter of where FCPS puts its priorities. “You’re choosing to fund safeguards for only a portion of the special education population,” Shopland said.
Miller’s original legislation did include any space where special education students worked, but chose to limit it to SIS spaces for now. However, she noted that students are surrounded by cameras on buses and in hallways, stating expanding the program was not out of the question.
Parents have asked how the program will ultimately be judged and both Rose and Miller have acknowledged it will be difficult to “prove a negative.” They questioned how to prove fewer incidents occurred specifically due to the cameras.
Ultimately, both acknowledged one of the key factors involved in reviewing the program will be if it provides a sense of security for families. “You are sending your student to school for a very long time, so if the cameras allow us to build more trust between the parents and the school system and the teachers, that would be a benefit,” Miller said. “It is also the goal to protect the teachers, because sometimes there might be something that causes an injury to a child that they actually maybe didn’t see.”
A hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee takes place March 12th. Rose said FCPS plans to hold public listening sessions come May or June. Miller’s bill will require each school in the county to review the program by June of 2032.
